Indians should identify themselves as proud Hindus: Yogi Adityanath.

Indians should not hesitate to identify themselves proudly as Hindus: UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

Avaneesh Mishra |Express News | Lucknow | June 8, 2017:: CHIEF MINISTER Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said “no Indian should be hesitant” about being proud of his or her Hindu identity. Addressing an event on ‘Hindvi Swaraj Diwas’, organised at Lucknow University on the anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s coronation, Adityanath asked if like Hinduism, any other religion can claim its voice for ahimsa (non-violence), abhay (fearless) and satya (truth) — the three pillars of ‘Hindu sanatan sanskriti’.

Referring to Swami Vivekanand’s speech in Chicago, he said: “At Chicago, when asked about Hinduism, Swami Vivekanad had said that he was proud to be a Hindu. I believe that no Indian should be hesitant about this.”

He added that the aim of Hinduism is ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’. “Hindu is the amrit rasdhara going towards the ocean of truth… Ahimsa, abhay and satya are the three pillars of Hindu sanatan sanskriti, and that is why we feel proud in being a Hindu,” he said.

Claiming that “distorted portrayal of history has tried to bound our great personalities”, Adityanath said: “But true history is where we remember those heroes centuries after they are gone and today, this function tells that Shivaji was great and Aurangzeb was not.”

Governor Ram Naik, who was also present at the event, said that last year, during the same function, he inaugurated a grand statue of Shivaji in the university. He asked the university to hold for this programme at a bigger level.

“Shivaji’s name is on top of world’s best strategists. He was a true secular leader with a lot of Muslims (holding) important designations during his regime,” he added.